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I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday, so no popcorn for me until after that!!

Box office report: ‘Turtles’ reclaim top spot, ‘Expendables’ misfire

Holdover tent-poles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy maintained the top spots at the weekend box office, while the new openers trailed behind. But, while it was expected that Let’s Be Cops and The Giver would open in the teens, the biggest surprise of the weekend was The Expendables 3, a franchise pic which should have easily opened in the $20 to $25 million range, but instead floundered with an estimated $16.2 million.

TMNT‘s success last weekend was no fluke and the pizza-loving heroes took the No. 1 spot for the second weekend in a row with an estimated $28.4 million from 3,980 locations. That’s a 56.7 percent drop from its opening weekend. The movie also earned $25.6 million internationally, bringing its international total to $67.5 million. It still has yet to open in a handful of key territories including Korea (Aug. 28), Spain and the U.K. (Oct. 17), and Japan (Dec. 19).

Guardians of the Galaxy, meanwhile, rocketed past the $200 million mark and earned an estimated $24.7 million—a mere 41.3 percent drop from last weekend, which is similar to Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s third weekend fall.

Let’s Be Cops (Cinema Score: B) edged ahead of The Expendables 3 to take third place across the weekend with an estimated $17.7 million. The Fox comedy opened earlier in the week and now boasts a domestic total of $26.1 million, which is not bad for a movie that cost a reported $17 million to produce. Audiences were 56 percent male and 54 percent under the age of 25. Demographic breakdowns report that 17 percent of audiences were Hispanic, 20 percent were African-American, and 50 percent were Caucasian. The movie also exceeded expectations in the West and Midwest.

The Expendables 3 (Cinema Score: A-) opened in fourth place with $16.2 million from 3,221 locations. Audiences were mostly male (61 percent) and over the age of 25 (66 percent) for Lionsgate’s PG-13 rated action pic. It’s a franchise low, and possibly too-easy to ridicule thanks to a cast that’s bursting at the seams with aging action heroes, but Expendables 3 also buckled under the weight of a leak, which led to nearly 2.2 million downloads weeks before the movie had even hit theaters.

Rounding out the top five is The Weinstein Company’s The Giver (Cinema Score: B+) which earned $12.76 million from 3,003 locations. The $25 million adaptation of Lois Lowry’s beloved novel failed to gain much traction with critics, and the opening is a little lower than The Weinstein Company wanted (they were aiming for mid-teens). It will be interesting to see how it holds up across the next few weeks.

Here’s the top five:
1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — $28.4 million ($117.64 million domestic total)
2. Guardians of the Galaxy — $24.7 million ($222.28 million domestic total)
3. Let’s Be Cops — $17.7 million ($26.1 million domestic total since Wednesday)
4. The Expendables 3 — $16.2 million (new)
5. The Giver — $12.76 million (new)

Also of note, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood expanded to 771 locations this weekend and took in an estimated $2.15 million to take tenth place. The $4 million pic has earned $13.8 million to date. Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight also upped its theater count to 964 locations (up 794) for a $1.9 million weekend, and What If, starring Daniel Radcliffe, expanded to 787 locations (from 20) to earn $829K.

In limited release, IFC’s comedy The Trip to Italy starring Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan earned $71.6K from three locations and A24’s Life After Beth, starring Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan grossed $18K from two locations.